Victoria’s opposition is calling on the state government to offer “real incentives”, including free public transport, to lure office workers back to the Melbourne CBD.
The lofty plan was put forward by the Liberals’ spokesman for small business and CBD recovery, David Southwick, who said more needed to be done to get workers back on Mondays and Fridays.
“If the Andrews government doesn’t have a plan to bring workers back, Monday and Friday will become a public holiday. We can’t have the city operating Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,” he said.
“We’ve got to have a plan that spreads people back Monday to Friday. To do that, we need real incentives. This needs to be a game changer.”
Usage on Melbourne’s trains was at 49 per cent of pre-pandemic levels last week, a boost of 9 per cent on the week before.
Tram trips were at 44 per cent of 2019 levels.
While the idea of free public transport may be ambitious, the state government enacted a similar scheme before Christmas to get shoppers into the embattled CBD.
More than 250,000 vouchers for a free trip to the city were offered from December 16 until New Year’s Eve.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve were also free travel days on the network.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp also called on the state government to revitalise the city by offering cheaper off-peak travel on weekdays and to subsidise fares for major events.
“Victorians snapped up all 250,000 free travel vouchers over the festive period – and with xjmtzywbumper events like Moomba coming up, we’d love to see another round rolled out,” she said.
Train passengers on the metro network can travel free if they touch on and off before 7.15am on a weekday.
Melbourne’s CBD has been hit hard since the pandemic first hit two years ago.
Attempts for widespread worker return in 2021 were hampered by the state’s four lockdowns and masks staying mandatory until late February 2022.
